2026 route 66

 Our final riding day from Vega to Amarillo was the way a final day should be.  We rode the first 20 miles in a double pace line, but it was more like the final stage of the Tour de France than anything else -- we chatted that whole time.  It was flat, slightly downhill (a total of 339 feet of climbing for the day) and a tailwind. Temperatures ranged from ~60 to mid 80s.  The sights were minimal -- 10 miles of a wind farm, the Cadillac Ranch, the Slug Bug Ranch, and the Big Texan -- our hotel for the night.  The Cadillac Ranch was interesting (pictures below) -- I really didn't know what to expect.  One of our riders planned ahead and bought spray paint at a Dollar Store the night before (a lot cheaper than the $7.50 at the ranch).  After lunch we stopped at the Slug Bug Ranch, which had a similar theme (this time with VW Bugs instead of Cadillacs) and was a more fun stop. (pictures below).  We rolled into the Big Texan where we were staying and h...

 Our last long day (78 miles) of the trip took us from Tucumcari to Vega, Texas -- our final state, as well as last time zone change.  We are now in Central time zone.  It was a relatively easy ride with more downhill than uphill, a couple of fast pace lines, little interstate, no flats, a tailwind, and some optional gravel.  Once again the weather was great -- started chilly around 50 and made it to the low 80s.  We opted for 15 miles of gravel to avoid a few miles of interstate.  No fence jumping today, and in Texas they don't put fences around the interstate so all we had to do in 2 places was to rides over a ditch, which was well traveled. The gravel was well maintained with some some sections that were firm like concrete (but not as smooth) and others that were a little sandy.  I tended to ride the gravel next to the hard pack so the gravel would smooth out the ride. There was one bridge that was out (picture below) but some people did ride o...

 Today we rode from Santa Rosa to Tucumcari.  Temperatures were similar to most other days.  The winds although not crazy, they were from the wrong direction, contrary to the weather report -- a head wind or cross wind.  Again, we descended more than we climbed.  We are acclimated to 5750 feet and are now down to 4080 in Tucumcari.  It is getting easier to pedal (especially when we draft other riders :)) Today I started with a flat in my rear tire even before leaving our hotel room.  We think one of the patches had a slow leak.  I replaced the tube before we started the day.  The initial ride had a stretch of over 5 miles that were as straight as an arrow (picture below), followed by an old section of Route 66 which is now gravel and broken pavement (we looked forward to the broken pavement parts after some of the deeper gravel). (pictures)  Lon said that it has deteriorated since the last time he rode it and wouldn't have taken us on it...